Stage Management & Technical Theatre (Taught)

Balancing theory and practice along with opportunities to gain credit for practical experience within the industry, this MA Stage Management & Technical Theatre course offers you the knowledge and skills to become an effective practitioner in the fields of stage management and technical theatre. It has been developed in consultation with industry professionals across Scotland.

We have designed the course as a conversion degree, and we welcome applicants from non-arts related subjects. This course is ideal if you want to add a vocational stage management emphasis to your undergraduate degree, or if you have significant workplace experience and would like to gain a formal qualification.

From theatre productions and arts festivals to music gigs and charity events, the entertainment and live events industries are growing rapidly. At the same time, the work of stage managers is becoming more complex and technically challenging. This means that arts and events companies are looking for skilled stage managers with more holistic and integrated perspectives regarding the management of entertainment and live events and the artistic, economic, social and environmental conditions in which they function.

This MA Stage Management & Technical Theatre course has been developed in response to this need and is rooted in a belief that effective stage managers need training that is both practical and critically reflective. It aims to develop your knowledge of the contemporary issues in stage management and technical theatre, while equipping you with the practical skills that are essential for developing a career in this sector.

Flexible study options and a diverse curriculum make this course suitable for both those already working in the entertainment industries and those looking to start a career in this sector.

Course Modules

• Stage Management: Practice & Theory (20 credits): This module will introduce you to the theories and structures underpinning the discipline of stage management. It will enable you to analyse and evaluate the different team structures that are used across the entertainment industry. It will also allow you to critically examine, and reflect on, ways in which different skill sets may be adapted and applied to the stage management profession. You will develop your existing research skills and be introduced you to a variety of methodologies relevant to your chosen field.

• Technical Theatre Practices (20 credits): This module will provides you with the theories underpinning theatre lighting, sound, and AV. It will also allow you to put your knowledge into practice, both with equipment in the classroom and in outside venues, such as Edinburgh’s acclaimed Traverse Theatre. In addition to developing practical skills underpinned by relevant theory, you will learn to critically analyse technical theatre practices in a wide range of contexts throughout the live entertainment industry.

• Production-Based Learning (40 credits): This module provides an opportunity for students to develop their specialist practice in Stage Management and/or technical theatre by working as part of a wider production team. You will take responsibility for your assigned role on a university production which will replicate the professional working environment.

• Industry Practice (40 credits): The module will enable you to take personal responsibility for developing your own experiential learning within an appropriate industry environment. It will allow you to integrate and synthesize the critical theoretical knowledge, ,and technical skills, developed in the different modules of the course and apply these in a practical working environment.

• Final Project (60 credits): Through undertaking a project that suits your strengths, interests and career aspirations, you will have the opportunity to undertake a substantial piece of work that will develop your academic rigour, professional skills, independence and self-direction. You will explore and apply relevant academic or professional approaches and practical skills, including those acquired in the taught component of the course. Your work will allow you to explore a topic or area of interest to a degree of critical depth that will provide you with a valuable level of expertise in an area relevant to your professional interests and career aspirations. In completing your project, you will have produced a piece of original work which offers reflections, recommendations or conclusions that have the potential to contribute to the continued development of stage management practice.